Apartment, Disconnected November 9, 2008

Some of you who follow me may have noticed that my online chatter has quieted down recently. This is because I have finally, FINALLY moved into a new apartment, one that is NOT an hour away from my new job. Here’s the twist…I’m moving in with these two girls, right? They’re very nice people & we get along & everything about the apartment seems normal…until you realize that these girls have been living there at that apartment without cable and Internet.

And I don’t mean they just moved in & are waiting on the cable company to come out. They’ve been there for months & CHOSE to live this way. Offline. Disconnected. The opposite of being a digital native.

When they first told me this, I didn’t understand. Wait. You mean…no blogging? No updating Facebook? No checking email? No looking stuff up on Wikipedia? No Twitter?? How do you live like this?!

The answer is: I don’t. I lasted exactly one day before I called the cable company & promised them my firstborn child to get them out here. And logically, I know there are people who do live like this. After they get home from work, they don’t feel the need to be tied to everyone they know through cyberspace. They feel like it’s a burden.

I do not pretend to understand these people. You would have been proud if you saw my performance in front of my roommates, acting as if I wasn’t completely shocked & frankly, judging a little, at what they told me. Just call me calm, cool & collected. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t practically hug the cable guy when he showed up.